No Streaking Allowed

by Jon DeRosa |
September 1, 2013 7:50 pm

Everything was lined up for the Yankees with six innings in the books and a 3-o lead. Andy Pettitte couldn’t get an out to start the seventh, then Shwan Kelley couldn’t get an out behind him and then this happened.

Boone Logan relieved Kelley and he also couldn’t record a single out. Then Joba Chamberlain plopped to the mound and the Orioles felt so bad about how things were going that they gave the Yankees an out just to be nice. But not that nice because then this happened.

Two three-run homers and seven total runs made the seventh inning stretch a cruel exercise for Yankee fans. The Yankees put a couple of guys on in the eighth, but didn’t get them in and lost 7-3.

The B-team bullpen, which has been good this year, blew the game, but had Curtis Granderson pulled back J.J. Hardy’s home run in the seventh, it might have been a much different outcome. The ball was catchable, but Granderson’s timing was off and he crashed into wall before he could extend his arm.

It would be too much to call it another nail in the coffin, but with Tampa losing again, missing the chance to cut the lead to 2.5 games feels like a nail in something.

Interesting note from LoHud:http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2013/09/01/postgame-notes-108/
"Chamberlain said. “It’s just execution of the pitch. that’s the one pitch I made a mistake on and they made me pay for it.”
Why three straight sliders to Adam Jones? “We needed a double play right there,” Chamberlain said. “I threw him the sliders and just — as aggressive as Adam is — if I threw it in a good spot and hopefully get him to roll over and get us out of that inning, and keep us within one run. That was the thought process.”

• Interestingly, this was Stewart’s take on three straight sliders: “I wanted to throw another fastball just to get them off there, but Joba felt confident in the slider and unfortunately, all three of them weren’t really good sliders. He just didn’t have it coming out of the bullpen, and he left one hanging and he hit a homer on it.”'

So we now see that Joba has no self awareness. He thinks he made one bad pitch. Meanwhile his catcher said that all three sliders were terrible and that "he didn't have it coming out of the bullpen."

So this begs a few questions:
1. WHY is Joba waving off his catcher????
2. Why is his catcher allowing himself to be waved off when Joba doesn't have his stuff and wants to throw his miserable slider again???
3. When is someone going to sit Joba down and tell him that he should just shut up and listen to his coaches and catcher? Clearly Joba can't tell if he is throwing well or not. He has little ability to see the pitching reality.

At this point, I would send Joba back to the minors. Let him be a starter there. If he ever figures it out, great. Then bring him back. If not, then good bye.

[3] Couldn't agree more, except the Yankees have no more options remaining to send him down. They would have to release him, and get nothing; or try and trade him, and probably get nothing. I say release him, and let him start over on his terms; Joba's current state is equally the fault of the organization and himself.